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  • Greenheart Ibiza

    The Greenheart initiative is a project farm, supported by the non-profit Fundación por el Futuro, it encourages symbiotic relationships between cultural tradition, information technology and sustainable ecological development.
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  • Casita Verde

    Situated in a beautiful valley near the village of San Jose in Ibiza, La Casita Verde is a model ecological centre that is operated by volunteers and open to the public on Sundays.
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  • Greenheart Music

    GreenHeartMusic is a music platform based in Ibiza, Spain. Presenting artists of different influences who express their connections to nature through their music.
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  • Guía Verde a Ibiza y Formentera

    A bi-lingual directory to Ibiza and Formentera of local groups, businesses and services that offer or use environmentally friendly practices.
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  • QL Studio › Websites Made Easy

    Quinta Linda is a low-impact living space and website design studio based in Portugal.
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  • Greenheart Resonancia

    An educational and fun programme of practical, stimulating experiences discovering sustainable and respectful habits in order to face the realities of climate change.
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  • Green Ibiza Tours

    Our Green Ibiza Tours provide responsible tourism holidays in Ibiza offering a full programme of eco activities and nature happenings.
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  • Greenheart Travel

    With the aim of promoting the Greenheart message around the world, travelling members of the rapidly growing Greenheart family will write blogs and add photos of their travels.
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  • Ibiza Gold

    The Greenheart Carob project plans to rejuvenate an important traditional economic activity, as well as motivating many local land owners.

Burma Ibiza Day

Now that the television cameras have gone, there is a global campaign to keep Burma alive. As part of the global community Ibiza will be part of a day of awareness on the 15th December, 2007 at Gala Night in San Antonio. From 14:00-22:00 you can be part of the campaign. Join Us. Here's how to find the venue.

A few months ago violent images were beamed into our living rooms from Rangoon, the old capital of Burma. Buddhist monks walking peacefully, supported by hundreds of people and chanting the “Metta Sutta,” the Buddha’s words of loving kindness, were shot at, chased, beaten and killed. To this date many monks and civilians are missing.

The Burmese military regime had raised the price of fuel and commodities leaving millions to face more suffering and hardship. It is the monks who through their daily relationship to the people see the poverty .They have said it was their responsibility to do something. But it was clear that the Generals would not stand for any dissent. After the terrible scenes of September 27th, as the world sat and watched the bloodshed, those involved stepped back. With the memories of the 1988 uprising where hundreds of thousands of people took on the military dictatorship and still to this day live with the consequences they could not allow for more violence.

There are many shining lights in Burma, creating a new generation of activists and they have a person who is the greatest example of non violent resistance. Aung San Suu Kyi. Under house arrest for the past 12 years, Suu Kyi led her political party The National League for Democracy (NLD) to victory in the general elections in 1990. They have never been allowed to rule, and they have been systematically ground down with arrests, torture, intimidation and sheer brutality. In the face of the Generals rage Suu Kyi speaks with a clear vision, a compassionate face and the strongest will I have ever seen in any leader. Both Suu Kyi and the NLD have survived and continue their struggle for freedom.

With many people still missing from the past months, and hundreds dead the crackdown still continues inside the country. Prominent activists who have been on the run are being caught on a daily basis. They wait for the “midnight knock” as it is called when the soldiers come and drag you out of your bed and to one of the interrogation centers. If you survive, then its prison with hard labour.

The European Union and the United States have now imposed economic sanctions but they do not go far enough. It is important to know that anyone buying timber, gems or minerals directly from Burma face persecution, so check your consumption.

For the millions who live in the ethnic areas they face a daily struggle in the midst of a war with the Burmese army. Millions of internally displaced on the run from the Burmese army, use the jungle to protect them. They have no sustainable food, no protection and no rights. But there are ways to get relief to people in the ethnic areas. It’s not easy but it’s done, with accountability.

Now that the television cameras have gone, there is a global campaign to keep Burma alive. As part of the global community Ibiza will be part of a day of awareness on the 15th December at Gala night in San Antonio. From 14:00-22:00 you can be part of the campaign. Join Us.

BACKGROUND DETAILS:

On the 27th September, 2007 a non violent demonstration in Burma led by Buddhist monks was brutally crushed by the military regime and its soldiers. Peacefully chanting the Buddha’s words of loving kindness the army responded with violence using their guns and bayonets against the monks and innocent people supporting them.

It all started in August when activists responded to the Junta’s rise in fuel and commodities and by the end of the month it was estimated that over 120 people had been arrested. Meanwhile in a small town in Upper Burma called Pakokku, several hundred monks organised themselves and called for the Burmese Junta to stop the increase and to release those that had been arrested in demonstrations occurring around the country. Response from the army and pro-government paramilitary groups was instant.

“Three monks were tied to an electric pole and were beaten with rifle butts and bludgeons…one monk sustained head injuries” said an eye witness from a monastery.

For the past 40 years, Burma has faced a military regime that is considered one of the most brutal in the world and has against it one of the greatest freedom struggles alive. Following a massive crackdown against the people in 1988 where thousands of people were killed, arrested and tortured, Burma has been rules by tyrants.

In 1990 Burma held elections which were won by the National League for Democracy (NLD), but have never been able to rule. Aung San Suu Kyi leader of the NLD has now been under house arrest for 12 years. She has been at the forefront in the non-violent struggle against the military regime and in response the Junta has persecuted her for the past 18 years . She has never given up. As she once said

“Public dissatisfaction with economic hardships has been seen as the chief cause of the movement for democracy in Burma, sparked off by the student demonstrations 1988. It is true that years of incoherent policies, inept official measures, burgeoning inflation and falling real income had turned the country into an economic shambles. But it was more than the difficulties of eking out a barely acceptable standard of living that had eroded the patience of a traditionally good-natured, quiescent people - it was also the humiliation of a way of life disfigured by corruption and fear”

For forty years the different ethnic nationalities living in rural Burma have faced an army that has forcibly conscripted villagers into the army, taken their livelihoods and literally run them to the ground. There are currently over 16,000 refugees living along the Thai-Burma border and thousands of people internally displaced, hiding in the forests. They live in fear. The loss of ones home and the courage to continue living within their country are some of the issues facing internally displaced people.

Before this latest crackdown, it was estimated that there were over 1,150 political prisoners in Burma’s jails. They are being incarcerated for the struggle of basic human rights that you and I so enjoy. Before, during and after the latest demonstrations many key people had to leave their homes and go on the run. They have been hidden and given support by the people, but most have now been arrested and some have managed to reach the Thai Burmese border.

"We have seen police asking for money from families of detainees if they want their family members to be released. Young people who are on their way to offices and schools are not only stopped and checked but also robbed," said Mie Mie shortly before her arrest. Mei Mei was eventually found, arrested and is currently being held in an undisclosed prison. She was arrested last week.

Burmese who had fled to the Thai-Burma border described violence by riot police against marchers and onlookers, including women and monks.

"Some of the injured were so bloody that you couldn't tell where blood was coming from. Some of the monks lost the top part of their robes. I saw civilians trying to help an injured monk. Most of their injuries were head injuries. The riot police were aiming for the head," said a 31 year-old monk who witnessed confrontations between protesters and police at Shwe Dagon pagoda on 26 September.

While we sat and watched the images of brutality from inside Burma, the International community sat helpless. This is a struggle for the basic human right for the freedom of expression. Let us one day in December be active in our support for that.

http://www.eia-international.org